The Cleveland Indians have just announced that they will trade minor-leaguer Kevin Kouzmanoff and relief pitcher Andrew Brown to the San Diego Padres for second baseman Josh Barfield.  The crack-team of sports analysts at Bachmannalia are pumped about this deal.  Why?  Read on, gentle reader, read on.

First, Barfield.  The son of a major-leaguer, Josh had a very solid rookie season for the Padres.  He was excellent with the glove, which should help to improve the Indians abysmal infield defense from last season.  He also projects as a very good hitter; last season he played primarily in the most pitcher-friendly park in America but still hit .280.  He hit .315 on the road and will likely do somewhere in between for the Tribe – which sounds good to me, especially for a guy with some speed on the bases and great range in the field.

Now to the Kouz.  Kevin is the only player in major league history to hit a grand slam not only in his first game, not only in his first ever at-bat as a major leaguer, but on the VERY FIRST PITCH he ever saw in the major leagues.  Impressive.  He has hit at every level and plays a solid field.  However, the Tribe has Andy Marte penciled in at the hot corner and Ryan Garko at first.  Kouz was down on their list, and I for one am happy to see him get a shot in the majors now, even if its not for us.

Brown has been hyped by our analysts earlier in the year, but he never panned out.  He was also out of options, so no big loss.

Best part of all – Barfield is young and therefore under Tribe control for a long time to come.  He could very well add to that core of Sizemore, Martinez, Hafner, and CC (along with up-and-comers Marte, Peralta, and Jeremy Sowers).

Great trade.